Category Archives: Finance

Not content with ripping off their taxpayers big time, nearly a hundred senior local council employees are using tax avoidance schemes to minimise the amount they put back into the pot. Although these people are paid as employees of their respective authorities, they have been allowed to set up limited companies, as fronts into which their inflated salaries are paid. Continue reading →

Several years ago, I bought a car on what I later discovered was an unfavourable leasing agreement. I’d normally have whined about this, but got on with the payments. Then I changed my bank, and forgot to carry over all my standing orders. The car finance company immediately registered that I was in default just as I was trying to arrange a new fix on my mortgage. I did call the finance company to explain, but found myself in an argument with a youngish Scotchman, who shouted me down, and gloated that my credit was ruined for life. Continue reading →

Occupy Wall Street has come under fire from some libertarians, on the grounds that it’s relatively silent about the role of big government, and its proposed remedies lean heavily toward increased government intervention. Continue reading →

The Labour hierarchy has worked out its narrative on the economic mess they created. It runs like this: NuLabour in power may have made some mistakes, but these were minor and apparent only with hindsight, while the real culprit is the global economy in general and the USA’s obsession with sub-prime mortgages in particular. This is not only a grotesque lie but a stupid one because it can be readily exposed. Continue reading →

Did I say “financial incentive”? Why yes, yes I did. It turns out that Mr. Buffett — new liberal hero thanks to his push for higher taxes on the “rich” — isn’t really a disinterested party: Continue reading →

Neal Stephenson’s “The Diamond Age” was set some years after encrypted currencies and e-commerce removed most economic transactions into darknets beyond the government’s capability of monitoring and regulating, and thus caused tax bases around the world to implode. This followed, in short order, by the collapse of most nation-states.

Encrypted currencies and darknet economies have been promoted as a real-world model for resilient communities, in the impending age of hollow states, by such thinkers as Daniel de Ugarte and John Robb.

In the wake of widespread pessimism and protests in Europe regarding the very existence of the Euro, the European Commission and the Council of Ministers have agreed that a permanent Euro stability fund will be established shortly.

All Eurozone members will be expected to pledge impressive sounding amounts of money, which won’t in fact be anywhere near enough to cover the gaping hole in the heart of our wonderful would-be global reserve currency. And we won’t actually expect them to pay anywhere near as much as they pledge – unless they urgently have to.

The existence of a permanent Euro stability fund will reassure the gullible citizens of our glorious Union that all is well – until they actually have to buy something more valuable than our promises about their future earnings and productivity. In fact, the very existence of the stability fund means that:

1) We have no intention of trying to turn the Euro into a sound currency, and we probably wouldn’t know how to do so anyway.

2) We won’t be able to stop Eurozone members overspending in the future. Why else do you think we need this fund? Besides, we know every such crisis provides the justification we need to centralize even more money and power in our hands, so why would we even bother to try?

3) We will pay no attention whatever to calls for repudiation of national debts and a return to national currencies by Eurozone members. Any politician who tries to do this had better have very good life insurance and first-class bodyguards. Our message to the little people is simple: Shut up, pay up, and trust us to spend more money than you can possibly imagine. We’re a government – what else do you expect?

We note that UK citizens have been assured that non-Eurozone countries won’t have to contribute to the fund. We’re glad you like the eyewash, and rest assured that we’re working hard to address this state of affairs.